Rail joint



Jan. 6. 1925 1,5 2,442

0. A. G RIDER RAIL JOINT Filed 1924 9 "mun I 10 I I INVENTOR'. I I 5lider,

Patented Jan. 6, 1925.

tart

ORVILLE A. GRIDER. O33 VANDALIA, ILLINOIS.

BAIL JOINT.

Application filed February 5, 19524,.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ORVILLE A. GRIDER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Vandalia, in the county of Fayette and State of Illinois,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rail Joints, ofwhich the following is a specification.

This invention relates to rail joints, and has for its primary object,the provision in a manner as hereinafter set forth, of a railroad jointso constructed that vibration and lateral movement of the rails at theirmeeting ends is greatly reduced.

Another object of the invention is the provision in a manner ashereinafter setforth, of a railroad joint so constructed that themeeting ends of the rails have their tread and web in overlappingrelation, thus eliminating any chance, in the event that the fish platesbecome broken, of the rails shifting and becoming out of alinement.

Another object is the provision, in amanner as hereinafter set forth, ofa rail joint so set up as to provide for expansion and contraction ofthe rails, under varying climatic conditions, without the formation ofexcessive spaces transversely of the rail.

The final object is the provision in a man ner as hereinafter set forth,of a railroad joint which will be as strong as the main body of therail, of a structure easy to pass, easily assembled, and inexpensive toconstruct.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of the rail joint embodying this invention.

Figure 2 is a side elevation thereof.

Figure 3 is a transverse sectional view taken upon the line 33 of Figure1, and,

Figure 4 is a detail perspective view of one end of one of the railsshowing the manner in which the end is molded to fit into acorrespondingly molded end of another rail.

Referring now to the drawing in detail wherein like numerals ofreference indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views ofthe drawing, there are shown the abutting ends of two. sections of railof the usual construction and consisting of the head 1, the web 2 andthe base 3. The usual bolt holes 4: are formed through the web of eachof the rails.

The end of each rail section at each end Serial No. 690,753.

has its foot finished off at right angles tothe length of the railforming the transverse vertical abutting end 5. The head and the webportion of each end of the rail is divided through its longitudinalcenter, and the web and head upon one side of this central longitndinaldivision is removed and the cutout portion extends rearwardly of thetransverse abutting end 5 while upon the other side of this centrallongitudinal division the web and head are extended forwardly of the end5 as follows: The web upon one side of the central division is cutbackwardly and upwardl to form the shoulder 6 until the underside of thehead 1 is reached whereupon the head is finished off to provide thevertical lateral shoulder 7. The other half of the web upon the otherside of the central longitudinal division referred to extends outwardlyand upwardly at an inclination from the wall 5 as at 8 and where itmerges into the underside of the head at the other end of the inclinedportion the tread terminates in the vertical abutting wall 9. From thismethod of formation of the end of the rail it will be seen that there isprovided a substantially triangular shaped extension 10 formed ofone-half of the web and the head of the rail and overlapping andabutting a similarly formed angled shaped extension of an abutting rail.The angles of the inclined shoulders 6 and 8 are the same and theformation of each end of each rail section is the same with theexception that at one end the extension of the web forward of the end 5and of the head is upon one side whereas at the other end it is upon theopposite side. The purpose of this is apparent.

l Vhen the rail ends are placed together the ends 5 of the rails abut,the faces of the angle shaped overlapping extensions 10 abut and theextended end 9 of the head of one rail abuts the vertical shoulder 7 inthe head of the other rail and the inclined surface 8 of one of therails rests upon the inclined shoulder 6 of the adjoining rail. Thus therails, in a way, automatically aline themselves and when so alined lishplates 11 are placed one on either side of the web 9, in a position tooverlap the joints and bolts 12 are passed through the apertures 41 inthe webs of the rail and through similar apertures in the fish plates llwhereupon nuts 13 are applied to the bolts and tightened to draw thefish plates tightly against the overlapping webs.

From the foregoing description it may be readily seen that there isprovided an improved rail joint soconstructed that due to theoverlapping relation of the rail ends there is, in a way, a lockingaction be tween the rail ends which will prevent undue rattling andmovement of the rails and further, in the event that the fish plates 11should become broken, as is often the case, the rails will not shifttheir position, n0r;caneither rail end sag for in this case if there wasany tendency to sag the sagging rail would be supported upon the end ofthe adjacent rail dueto the overlapping of the shoulders 6 and 8 oftheopposed rails.

As aresult of constructing a rail joint in the above described mannerthe strain on the fish, plates, is greatly decreased thus materially,increasing the strength and etficiency of thejoint as a whole.

While the drawing anddescription set forth: the preferredembodiment ofmy invention still it is to be understood that the invention is notconfined to any strict conformity to the showing. of the drawing, butmay be changed and modified so long as such changes and modificationsmark no A rail joint comprising in combination,

a pair of opposed track rails, the opposed end terminal portions of saidrails each havmg its Web and head out inwardly from one side throughone-half their thickness to form the head with a vertically disposedlateral shoulder. extending from the top to the bottom thereon: and theWeb with an upwardly inclined shoulder extending from the lowerfree endof the web and terminating at thevlower edgeof the shoulder on the headeach of said rails further provided with a substantially triangularshaped extension integralwith'the: head and Web and forming a lengthwisecontinuation thereof, the extension otone rail positionedinparallelism.with the head and web of the other railythe end andunder'edge of said eX-' tensions further opposing said shoulders,

hereto. v

' ORVILLE A. GRIDER.

